Among these potential mechanisms, only environmental factors are potentially modifiable during infancy and childhood. Therefore, prevention and treatment of overweight and obesity in children in the primary care setting focuses on modifying behaviors that lead to excessive energy intake and insufficient energy expenditure. Experts who focus on cardiovascular health (rather than obesity per se) recommend very similar health behaviors, with a slightly different perspective. (See "Pediatric prevention of adult cardiovascular disease: Promoting a healthy lifestyle and identifying at-risk children".)

Few long-term randomized trials are available to determine which techniques to prevent or treat obesity are effective. Moreover, several of the techniques that have been addressed in clinical trials may not be practical for use in a clinical setting. Nonetheless, a number of approaches are recommended by expert consensus, based on clinical experience, inferences drawn from observing obesity-associated behaviors, and short-term evidence-based trials [1-9].

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Guide to Community Preventive Services. Obesity prevention and control: behavioral interventions that aim to reduce recreational sedentary screen time among children. Available at: http://www.thecommunityguide.org/obesity/behavioral.html (Accessed on January 09, 2015).

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2015 – 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 8th Edition. December 2015. Available at: http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/ (Accessed on January 09, 2016).